We are living longer - life expectancy is increasing - but more of those extra years are lived with chronic and debilitating disease. According to figures from the US, in the last 10 years we have lost, on average, a full year of healthy life due to the rise of the major diseases that affect Western populations (diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, obesity and arthritis).

We also spend less of our life fully mobile. Functional mobility has been defined as “the ability to walk up ten steps, walk a quarter of a mile, stand or sit for 2 hours, and stand, bend or kneel without using special equipment.”

Only ten years ago, the average 20-year-old man would spend 3.8 years of his life with impaired functional mobility. Today that number is 5.8 years. Women do even worse. Ten years ago, that number was 7.3 years and has since risen to 9.8 years.

Almost ten years of one’s life without basic mobility.

These numbers have not increased because of accidents or injuries. The increase is due to a broad and gradual systemic decline – the kind of impairment that is almost always preventable by effective and consistent lifestyle intervention.

Jokingly, we say “It’s the knees that go first”. But - many a truth in jest - if painful and stiff knees are starting to restrict your exercise and mobility you need to do something about it.